


In Dreams

by Unfeathered



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Dreams vs. Reality, Ficlet, Gen, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-10
Updated: 2008-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:21:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24404215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unfeathered/pseuds/Unfeathered
Summary: In his dreams, things go differently
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/The Master (Simm), The Doctor/The Master (Doctor Who)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	In Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [here](https://unfeathered.livejournal.com/4591.html) on 10 November 2008
> 
> Very much inspired by my role-playing at the time in a game where basically all the what-ifs of Doctor Who were played out

In his dreams, things go differently.

In his dreams, the Master doesn’t die, doesn’t sacrifice himself for one last pathetic victory. The Master lives and the Doctor is allowed to look after him as they go travelling together, allowed to work on quieting the drums until he finally has _his_ Master back again, the brilliant, amazing man he used to know. And they adventure together and visit wonders, love and laugh and live together.

Sometimes, in his dreams, the Master doesn’t keep him for a year in an aged body on a ship high above the Earth. He isn’t forced to watch as the man he still loves (because he does, despite everything) rapes and tortures his friends – the whole _planet_ – in an attempt at controlling the universe that’s a hundred times more crazed than anything the Master’s come up with before.

There are even dreams where the Master didn't run from the war, and those are the worst of all, because they’re the most seductive. Dreams of a universe where the Master fought alongside him, fought _with_ him, held him when he was going mad with despair, held his hand as he pressed the button that annihilated Gallifrey, stayed with him so that he wasn't so incredibly, unthinkably, mind-numbingly _alone_. 

The Doctor hates those dreams most of all. Because he always wakes alone in his TARDIS, with the Master gone. Everyone gone. Rose back to her own alternate universe. Sarah Jane back to her investigations. Jack and Martha and Mickey back to Torchwood. And Donna… He doesn’t want to think about Donna and what she’s gone back to.

Now there’s just him, and his memories – his dreams – are all he has left.


End file.
